Credit: Stuart Cahill

Even knowing his most trusted soldiers had given up secrets to the feds, storied gangster James “Whitey” Bulger asked his moll to remind him whether he had “named names” in the autobiography he was writing when the FBI caught up to him in California last year, according to newly filed court records.

Shortly after Bulger, 83, and Catherine Greig, 61, were arrested, “when Bulger was told that agents had found the manuscript, Bulger asked Greig if he had ‘named names’ — and she replied that she didn’t think so,” states a voluminous brief filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office to oppose Greig’s appeal to shave time off her eight-year sentence.

One prominent name Bulger had dropped in print was that of his one-time prolific hired gun John Martorano. The admitted killer of 20 is expected to testify against Bulger when the Winter Hill Gang leader goes on trial next summer. Prosecutors noted in their brief that Bulger specifically cited Martorano’s January 2008 appearance on the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes.” They do not elaborate on what Bulger wrote about Martorano. Martorano beat Bulger to a publisher with the release last year of his own memoir, “Hitman,” which Martarano co-authored with Herald columnist Howie Carr.

Greig pleaded guilty in March to harboring the FBI’s most wanted mobster. She now argues she was unfairly penalized after the judge heard harsh criticisms by loved ones of Bulger’s alleged 19 murder victims during her June sentencing hearing.

Meanwhile, prosecutors, elaborating on earlier reports, described in the new court papers how Bulger was so terrified of needles that Greig had to sit with him during medical and dental appointments to calm him and keep him from blowing their cover. Prosecutors said in one form they recovered Bulger described himself as a “dental chicken, from Chicago.”

“Bulger had a volatile temper, and was often abusive toward medical staff. By remaining at his side during procedures, Greig mitigated the risk that Bulger would lash out in a way that might reveal his or her true identity: Bulger himself told law enforcement that Greig helped him control his temper,” prosecutors said in their brief.

After he’s tried here, Bulger faces murder prosecutions in death-penalty states Florida and Oklahoma, both of which use lethal injection.